|
MURATA: Okay. I’m here today representing myself as one of the common folk; and
<br />I want to talk about two things basically. This proposed amendment, the project, is objectionable
<br />intrinsically to me in two ways. One is a mater of public trust. The project that was proposed
<br />originally was Mamalahoa Bypass and a collector road. Now the partially completed Bypass
<br />plus Halekii Street will be used as a through way. So what was promised is now being delivered.
<br />The other part is this Halekii extension, which I call Halekii Detour, this project will cause a lot
<br />of undesirable effects; and paradoxically it will cause no effect. I’ll go into both things. First,
<br />the undesirable impact is over at the Kealakekua Village. There were safety concerns about the
<br />steepness, due to the steepness of the hill and the residents fearing pedestrians and what not. It
<br />was covered quite well and responded to the community concerns, but what I would like to add
<br />to that is the problem of local circulation at that intersection. I heard one of the Commission
<br />Members talk about the location, the intersection at Halekii and Mamalahoa. That intersection
<br />on one corner there is Tesoro. On the other corner there’s a post office, the Labor office and
<br />other offices. Further makai there is a business center. There’s lots of traffic. I visited the area
<br />quite often, so I’m a frequent visitor and familiar with a lot of the traffic circulation there. There
<br />are times when traffic flow is hectic. I wiggle through the community too, so that I can get on
<br />Halekii Street and continue on further. I use the side street that I wriggle through to get out of
<br />the area. That will, I visualize where hectic can come chaotic where there will be more, I’d say,
<br />preemptive aggressive driving. By that I mean, you know, people will cut off others, they will
<br />cut in to, you know, just move around. So that’s one thing.
<br />The other thing that, oh, another thing, let’s say mitigation. I’m glad that there’s mitigation for
<br />the community with traffic calming features both at the makai end at Alii Drive and the mauka
<br />end at Halekii Drive. But those things do not, they are just short-term mitigation. The real long-
<br />term mitigation involves better junction management. Let me illustrate what I mean by junction
<br />management. Here’s a half a liter bottle. Let’s say this is the Halekii intersection, and this is the
<br />existing capacity. Imagine there are some cars in there. They’re going to go out at a certain rate,
<br />it’s manageable, it’s safe. Now this proposal will, at the junction it will create this, the next size
<br />is the same. The outflow rate is going to be slower or longer. The rate may be, the rate is the
<br />same because they have the same neck size. But the outflow, the time for it to empty this is
<br />going to be at least twice, theoretically twice. But with the hectic and chaotic conditions at the
<br />junction, it’s going to be more. So the junction management at Halekii is going to be severely
<br />impacted. If you leave things alone, you have this Halekii junction now operating, you know, at
<br />the level, you know, it’s a problem; but the problem will be worse. You have similar kinds of
<br />junction phenomena going on at Kam III, at Lako, at Palani, and further. So you have a whole
<br />series of junctions that need to be managed. And the illusion that Halekii will solve the
<br />problems of all the other junctions is, it’s sort of like an illusion. Mr. Sumada talked about
<br />optical illusion, so, you know, there could be, you know, we may be seeing things that are not so
<br />rosy.
<br />WATANABE: Yeah, Mr. Murata, would you kindly summarize. I understand your
<br />position and I think the fellow Commissioners also get the point. But I do also have other
<br />testifiers -.
<br />MURATA: Yes, yes.
<br />WATANABE: And so could you kindly summarize.
<br />EXHIBIT A
<br />29
<br />
<br />
|